''Borealestes'' was a genus of

docodontan Docodonta is an order of extinct mammaliaforms that lived during the Mesozoic, from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. They are distinguished from other early mammaliaforms by their relatively complex molar teeth, from which the order gets ...

from the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

of Britain, first discovered on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

near the village of Elgol. It was the earliest mammaliaform from the Mesozoic found and named in Scotland. A second species and was later found in other Middle Jurassic sites in England, but is now shown to be a different genus. A new species, ''B. cuillinensis'' was named in 2021, also from Skye.

Etymology

The genus name is derived from the Greek Boreas and Latin

Boreal Boreal may refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch *Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...

, meaning ''northern'', the Greek listís meaning ''brigand'' or ''rogue''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

of ''B. serendipitus'' comes from the noun ''serendipity'', relating to making a happy and unexpected discovery by accident. The species name ''B. cuillinensis'' comes from the Cuillin mountains on Skye, which are near the discovery site, and the cusps of the teeth resemble the peaks of the mountains.

Discovery

The first fossil of ''Borealestes serendipitus'' was discovered by

Michael Waldman Michael A. Waldman is an American attorney and presidential speechwriter and political advisor, currently serving as the president of the Brennan Center for Justice, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonprofit law and policy inst ...

during a school field trip he was leading on the Isle of Skye in 1971. The holotype is a fragment of jaw containing five molars and three premolars (BRSUG 20572)Panciroli, E., Benson, R.B. and Luo, Z.X., 2019
The mandible and dentition of Borealestes serendipitus (Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39(3), p.e1621884 and there were several other jaw fragments collected in the following years, and a partial skeleton, all of them from the

Kilmaluag Formation The Kilmaluag Formation is a Middle Jurassic geologic formation in Scotland. It was formerly known as the Ostracod Limestone for the abundance of fossil freshwater ostracods within it. The Kilmaluag Formation is very fossiliferous, with ostracods ...

. Michael Waldman and Robert J. G. Savage then carried out multiple trips to the island in search of mammals and other fossils. They named ''Borealestes'' at the same time as a new species of tritylodontid, '' Stereognathus 'hebridicus' '' (now synonymised with ''S. ooliticus''). In 2003, ''Borealestes mussettae'' (originally 'B. mussetti') was named from isolated molars found in the Bathonian aged Kirtlington Mammal bed of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England.Sigogneau-Russell D. 200
Docodonts from the British Mesozoic
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 48, 3, 357-374 Both of these localities belong to the Forest Marble Formation. It was named ''mussetti'' in honour of Frances Mussett, in recognition of her major participation in fossil excavation at Kirtlington Cement Quarry. However, ''mussetti'' is the masculine form, and so this has been amended to ''mussettae'' by subsequent authors. It was recently recognised as different from ''Borealestes'', and so moved to the newly erected genus ''

Dobunnodon ''Dobunnodon'' its an extinct genus of docodont from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Forest Marble Formation of England, first discovered in Oxfordshire near the village of Kirtlington. The type species, ''D. mussettae'', was originally named as ...

'' in 2021. A new species, ''B. cuillinensis'', was named in 2021 based on a partial skeleton found in the same site in the

, Scotland. It was found in 2018 by Prof Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham, during fieldwork on the island.

Appearance

''Borealestes'' is currently known from two partial skeletons which include skull bones, jaws, and postcrania, multiple isolated teeth, and ear bones ( petrosalsPanciroli, E., Schultz J.A., and Luo, Z-X. 2018
The morphology of the petrosal and stapes of Borealestes (Mammaliaformes, Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland
Papers in Palaeontology https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1233).

Docodonta Docodonta is an Order (biology), order of extinct Mammaliaformes, mammaliaforms that lived during the Mesozoic, from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. They are distinguished from other early Mammaliaformes, mammaliaforms by their relativel ...

ns are small (shrew to rat sized) mammaliaforms - the wider grouping that includes mammalians and their closest relatives. ''Borealestes'' is believed to be a

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

member of

.Luo Z-X, and Martin. 200
Analysis of molar structure and phylogeny of docodont genera
Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 39: 27-47

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q12899042 Docodonts Fossil taxa described in 1972 Taxa named by Michael Waldman (paleontologist) Taxa named by R. J. G. Savage Jurassic synapsids of Europe Prehistoric cynodont genera